Newsletter 22/2012 - Our South East Europe

Monitoring, evaluation mechanism to identify ways to implement regional strategy on justice and home affairs

The benefit of citizens in South East Europe (SEE) is at core of all Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) activities and efforts. In the domain of justice and home affairs it specifically pertains to the security of persons and property and to bringing sustained improvements to the rule of law across the region. To that end, the RCC Secretariat has initiated and elaborated the 2011-2013 Regional Strategic Document (RSD) in the area of justice and home affairs and the Action Plan for its implementation, as well as designed the Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism (M&EM) to measure the progress and the results of regional cooperation in this sector.

In March 2011, the ministers of justice and interior endorsed in Budva, Montenegro the RSD and established a Steering Group (SGRS) to implement and periodically review the strategic determinations, regional challenges and priorities identified in the RSD. Under the RCC Secretariat’s coordination, the SGRS exercises strategic management, harmonizing national, regional and international actions at four levels: strategic, legal, project implementation and operational.

To manage and asses the RSD implementation, the ministers established the Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism as a unique tool enabling the Steering Group to identify new challenges and directions for action and as well as to assess the impact and progress of regional cooperation.

“The M&EM is central to all the components of the regional cooperation system the RCC Secretariat coordinates in the Justice and Home Affairs area: 

  • Regional Ministerial Meetings
  • Regional Strategic Document
  • Steering Group on Regional Strategy
  • Regional Expert Teams on cooperation in criminal and civil matters”, says Virgil Ivan Cucu, Head of the Justice and Home Affairs Unit at the RCC Secretariat.

He explains that the task of the M&EM is to shed a light on the level of cooperation in the region and provide analyses showing whether there is an increase or decrease in the level of cooperation and in which areas more actions should be undertaken.

"Full M&EM implementation will enhance the convergence, complementarities and growth of reciprocal support among European Union (EU) judicial agencies and existing regional mechanisms. The cooperation between national judicial authorities will strengthen and, gradually, mutual recognition and direct cooperation will replace classical mutual legal assistance."

Ivan Cucu adds that the M&EM increases integration of the South East European regional policies in the area of justice and home affairs into general policies of the EU.

"It promotes the full application of EU instruments and standards in the area of freedom, security and justice, aiming to avoid duplication and, in the long term, could encompass all regional policies in SEE."

“The M&EM should also clearly identify duplication of efforts in the area of justice and home affairs in the region, ideally followed by precisely defined solutions.”

There are already numerous initiatives and programmes that operate in the region in the domain of justice and home affairs. One of them is the Police Cooperation Convention for Southeast Europe (PCC) that facilitates the enhancement of regional police cooperation by offering a unique legal platform and toolbox for increasing operational capabilities.

"Effective police cooperation is a prerequisite for strengthened security in the region and an efficient fight against cross-border organised crime", says Anton Travner, Head of Police Cooperation Convention (PCC) SEE Secretariat.

”Notable achievements and developments in the implementation of the Convention since its entering into force include mutual evaluations in the area of data protection, established national central units, concluded bilateral agreements, common training curricula, established system for exchange of fake and forged travel documents, and a clearly defined decision-making process.”

Travner explains that although the implementation follows its individual pace according to the priorities and capabilities of its signatory countries, it is not immune to influences of other regional initiatives, but it influences them as well.

"In order to avoid overlapping of numerous programmes and efforts, synergies among the regional initiatives should be sought among all counterparts."

”In this regard, the Regional Cooperation Council has a crucial role in gathering valuable information on the on-going processes in the region and offering a transparent overview of the progress and shortcomings.”

"Monitoring and evaluation of our common efforts is a necessity for both strategic planning and daily decision making. Nevertheless, respect for local ownership should not be forgotten when preparing implementation priorities and programmes."

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) implements currently on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development various regional projects supporting the EU accession process of the countries in South East Europe.

Thomas Meyer, from GIZ's Sector Management-Legal Reform mentions two such projects. The first one is Open Regional Fund for South East Europe – Legal Reform[1] that focuses on facilitation of cross-border legal cooperation in South East Europe and welcomes the Regional Strategic Document in Justice and Home Affairs and the development of the M&EM. The other one is the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) 2010: fight against organised crime and corruption Strengthening the Prosecutors’ Network project that GIZ team implements together with Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC)[2], in which national authorities will be supported in compiling prosecution-related data – in cooperation with the M&EM.

"While the M&EM will collect various data on cross-border cooperation, this data and the respective statistics need to be analyzed to draft further recommendations or to define a specific approach for an identified problem", says Thomas Meyer.

 “This analysis of bottlenecks and obstacles in cross-border cooperation is envisaged to be done by various research institutes, thus involving academic institutions into the projects as well.”



[1] Open Regional Fund for South East Europe – Legal Reform  http://www.giz.de/Themen/en/34041.htm

[2] Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC)  http://www.cilc.nl/

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With assistance of regional partners, the RCC Secretariat designed a Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism to measure the progress in implementation of the 2011-2013 Regional Strategic Document in the area of justice and home affairs. (Photo: AP via http://www.focus-fen.net)

With assistance of regional partners, the RCC Secretariat designed a Monitoring and Evaluation Mechanism to measure the progress in implementation of the 2011-2013 Regional Strategic Document in the area of justice and home affairs. (Photo: AP via http://www.focus-fen.net)